Igor Boev taking 16th on the finish line was the best of RusVelo finishers of the 1st stage of the Portugese race. The day’s route took the peloton from Faro to Albufeira, first through the mountains, than through an undulating but relatively flatter terrain. The Lampre-Merida Italian Sasha Modolo won the sprint from the pack, leaving no chances to the likes of Mark Cavendish on an uphill stretch.

Says Sergey Honchar, RusVelo DS: ‘Two punctures suffered by Artem Ovechkin and Igor Boev in the final ten kilometers compromised otherwise realistic opportunity to climb higher up the result sheet. It was not easy for Igor to accelerate after the frantic chase. All in all I’m reasonably satisfied by the form demonstrated by our riders. First two days of the race are inevitably taken up by getting used to high speeds, then we hope to find our bearings and to jump on every chance we come across.”